Visitation for a retired priest of the Chicago Archdiocese who died last week will take place at Kurtz Memorial Chapel on Friday, according to the archdiocese.

The Rev. James E. Flynn, of Chicago, served as assistant pastor at several Chicago parishes until his 2012 retirement. Afterward, he served at Ascension-St. Susanna Parish in Harvey and St. Gerard Majella Parish in Markham, the archdiocese said in a news release.

The Rev. Thadeo Mgimba, who works at Chicago’s St. Martin de Porres, said Flynn was his “spiritual father, my mentor and my friend.”

Mgimba remembers Flynn as a remarkable person who “was very simple, humble and had a golden heart,” the archdiocese said.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. on Friday at Kurtz Memorial Chapel, 102 E. Francis Road, New Lenox, and from 9:30-11 a.m. on Saturday at Our Lady of Kibeho Parish, 1401 W. 112th St., followed by the funeral Mass, the archdiocese said. Internment is private.

Flynn was ordained in 1967 by Cardinal John P. Cody and began serving as assistant pastor at Chicago’s St. Priscilla Parish and Resurrection Parish as well as Cicero’s Our Lady of the Mount Parish, which is now part of Our Lady, The Mystical Rose Parish, the archdiocese said.

He then became associate pastor at St. Angela Parish, now part of St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, and Holy Name of Mary Parish, now part of Our Lady of Kibeho Parish, which are both in Chicago. He was bestowed the title of pastor emeritus and retired in 2012.

The Rev. Robert Gilbert, archdiocesan priest and one of Flynn’s close friends, said Flynn was a “good man and an even better priest.”

“(He) gave so much of his life in dedication to the Archdiocese of Chicago,” Gilbert said in the news release. “He was very beloved by the church communities and people were always happy to see him.”

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